Marketing and Advertising: There is a Difference

Marketing and Advertising: There is a Difference

According to Concordia University, “Marketing helps define the product even more than the actual product does.” In other words, marketing is what defines who the product is for, how the product is meant to be used, and what the products represents overall. It is the act of planning and implementing strategies that boost a brand’s image and ability to make money. Effective marketing requires extensive research and understanding human behaviors and habits. A marketer must have working knowledge of a consumer to be able to sell to one. For instance, some consumers respond better to certain images and messages than to others.

Inc.com breaks marketing down into “the four Ps”: product, price, place, and promotion. Product refers to the products and services offered to the marketplace to meet a demand, and price decides the value of said products and services. Placement determines distribution and whether or not a company will sell through physical outlets (such as a brick and mortar store) or function as an online business. Promotion is defined as all the methods of communication used broadcast the product or service – in other words, promotion is advertising.

Advertising is just one cog in the marketing machine. The Balance Small Business, an online publication, defines advertising as paid, public (meaning non-personal) announcement that is a persuasive message made by an identifiable sponsor of a company, organization, or person to existing (or potential) customers or a non-profit member base. Advertising is the application and execution of what is gathered by marketers. Advertisers take all that is gathered during market research and apply tactics that make the information useful when designing content for the media.

Marketing and advertising are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Chron, another online publication, describes marketing as the practice of getting a product or service ready for the marketplace, while advertising is the presentation through print, radio, web, or television. Advertising, through strategy, makes the public aware of the product. Marketing makes the public understand the product. Through effective marketing is when advertising is the most successful.

Knowing that marketing and advertising are not the same, most companies draft and employ individual strategies for both in order to create a complete approach to achieving the company’s goal. The marketing plan is to gather information and figure out how to turn that information into sales, while the advertising plan is to influence buyers through media. Research is only as effective as its execution, so it is an advertiser’s job to create art that appeals to the masses and their spending habits.

Since both marketing and advertising are crucial to the success of any business or brand, it is easy to conflate the two. However, maintaining their differences and being fully aware of what each is meant to accomplish further solidifies a brand’s success. A complete marketing plan can’t exist without advertising, just as advertising can’t exist without marketing.